GOKARNA — THE TRIP I LONGED FOR
The trip I longed for over a year now, and after all the cancelled plans and all the times I failed at convincing my friends, I was pretty sure I’d have to go solo, humans had failed me way too many times now.
So 26th Jan, just another Sunday, three of us, me and two other friends, decided let’s meet for lunch. One of them was going to Malaysia (Snehal) from office for work; another I was meeting after months, she was my ex-colleague (Surbhi), and then there’s me who has quit his job and what I am doing? Just exploring. So yes, I just started my bike to go meet them, and I get a call from Surbhi, Bhavya do you know what happened, I was like, please don’t say we ain’t meeting, other than that I am okay. She replied, Snehal’s onsite trip has been cancelled, I was like brilliant, now we have a great story to listen to. Reach soon, you people, I am all curious, I replied and kept the phone.
Fast forward to the lunch, we had good tasty food, Snehal was done bashing her office, and Surbhi and I had enjoyed the roast, we then had the shitty routine everyday talks for a while. Then, Snehal was like Bhavya I don’t want to spend my birthday here in Pune; I thought I’d be in Malaysia, I am thinking of going to Mumbai now. I laugh, and I look at Surbhi and say, “Surbhi, let’s go someplace,” she replied, “When?” I said today; obviously, she was like alright, let’s go. I am astonished, somewhat shocked. What? It’s Monday tomorrow, how many days do you have, I am talking about going out for 3–4 days, she is like yes I have time till 31st. I get elated. I then turned to Snehal, “Where do we go?”. At 2.30 pm, I started this discussion just in pure fun, at 3.30 pm we had booked tickets to Gokarna, the bus was at 8.00 pm the same day. When were we coming back no idea, where are we staying no idea, what we know is we are going.
On the bus, we thoroughly enjoyed catching up, more bitching about the office and gossip in general, also obviously me getting all roasted by the two girls. But Gokarna was on, and I was happy.
We booked Zostel on our way, the Canara pinto bus we took dropped us in the middle of nowhere at 5.00 am, at least that’s how it looked in the dark. I was not very confident, and then I had these two tiny kids along with me to take care of. Being a protector is a tough job I understood, Spiderman I respect you a lot more now. Saw the nearest light source, and we three walked towards it. Random Kanada people in lungis with bulky bodies came and questioned where you want to go, in my head, I was like, nowhere, I just want to stay alive. Checked on our phone, Zostel was 25 minutes away, found a decent Rickshaw Wala, and off we were, I told Snehal to keep looking at the maps and boom we detour, but after all the drama we did reach safely and in 19 mins. Shortcuts I tell you, they save lives I agree, but at times can scare the shit out of people.
We reached Zostel at around 5.30 am, there we found the comfy common room, got a bed each and within minutes were nicely sleeping like a baby. We woke up at around 9ish, had our breakfast, took suggestions from the locals there at Zostel, and the plan was made, we were going for the beach trek. We started at Belakum, the entire trek was around 6 km, and the five beaches we were going to cover were Belakum, Paradise, Half Moon, Om, and Kudle. Initially, the trek was tiring, the sunny weather and keeping the two ladies motivated was even more demanding, after all the effort we reached a cliff, and from there we could see the Paradise Beach just below us, alluring. Truly, totally, utterly gorgeous. Some 4–5 people in the sea, and another 4–5 on the beach, and that’s it. Never had I been to a beach so lonely and so vacant. I loved it. It was all fun, cracking jokes, roasting each other, complaining about the sunny weather, staring a few foreigners, and realizing how much have we gone away from being fit after getting all tired, doing such a small trek. For lunch, we had a full delicious watermelon, juice, and lots of nature, then we just spent an hour or so lazing around in the sand.
Next, we were supposed to visit Half Moon Beach; it was about 1–1.3 km trek from there, I tried my absolute best to sell these girls the trek, but they convinced me to take a boat ride to Om with a stop at Half Moon on the way, a splendid choice now that I look back on it. The boat ride was terrific, and the sea, mesmerizing. Enjoyed every bit of that ride, and Half Moon is hands down the best beach in Gokarna, just a heads up it is secluded, so you have to take a boat ride or have to trek, either way, it’s worth it. We reached Half Moon Beach, spent around 20–25 minutes there, and off we went to Om Beach. Here I bought a dreamcatcher, such beautiful artwork we seldom get to witness, chilled a while, and then we were on our way to Kudle. At Kudle Beach, we first looked for a shack with a great ambience, found one, got the table with the best view, and there we were all relaxing and enjoying the sunset. Again, I tried my level best to get them into the water, and no surprises, I failed again. But I did go; it was almost a year later I took a dip in the sea and how much I loved it. Some people jamming, some performing arts, some playing games, there were all kinds of people there. Then there was me, I swam for a while, and then I was meditating there, with my eyes open enjoying the sunset and my half body into the water. Kudle is easily the second-best beach in Gokarna, around 50–60 crazy people on the beach, a super happy go lucky vibe, great food, and a brilliant sunset is what it has on offer.
I got back to the shack, freshened up, and went to our table. The ladies were enjoying the music, and everything felt extraordinarily positive. I asked what do we order for dinner and we ordered. The food came, it was tasty, I was so hungry I without caring about anything else started eating, suddenly I got a call from a random number I picked up, and a girl shouted, “Asshole where are you?”, I was still figuring out who it was, but went ahead and answered, “Hey, I have come to Gokarna,” she replied, “Bhavya, even I am here, and I am staying in Zostel.” At Bhavya, I understood it’s Riya, I was overjoyed, I replied, “Fuckkkkk, after 1.5 long years, I am going to see you, just wait I’ll be back in Zostel in 15 mins”. Surbhi and I were overwhelmed, so Riya is my college mate, and we had not met for around 19 months after graduation, what got me so happy is a different story. Still, we have had crazy times together, so yes, the excitement was justified. Finished my food, again tried convincing the girls not to take a rickshaw and finally succeeded, we made the walk back to the Zostel. The road was lonely, feeling the pressure and being a tiny bit scared, as I had two pretty girls with me, I stopped an old man, a foreigner and told him, Sir, we will come along. Spiderman, I respect you a lot more now, like seriously.
We reached Zostel, changed our clothes and there I saw Riya in the cafe spending time with random people. I was ecstatic, I just reached out, and gave her a tight hug, suddenly the memories and good times that we have had together all rushed back in. Talking and laughing our asses off, she introduced me to new people she met there. In my ever so flirtatious tone, I said, now that I am here, can we bid goodbye to everyone, don’t I suffice, we had a good laugh. Then, joked how almost everyone here is an engineer and then met this cool lawyer called Anurag, he was a nice guy, all single ladies out there.
Next, Zostel had a night trek planned to paradise beach, to see phytoplanktons. The whole of Zostel was in for this plan, even we registered, got ready, and we started at 10.30 pm. I told both the girls along with me that now I am going to talk to random people (obviously girls) and get to know them; it’s time to test all my networking (flirting) skills. I got into the bus, and what luck, Sagittarian man I tell you, we are immensely fortunate humans, I got a seat beside the cutest chick on the bus. I started talking to her, one crazy girl I tell you. She had often been travelling, and so many times had visited destinations all alone, even to Gokarna, she had come solo. We talked, did the necessary, Hi, Hello, what you do, conversation and jumped to the Himalayas and then to Hampi. We talked about everything under the sky; I got her to laugh one cute pretty random girl made friend checked. We got off at Belakum just like in the morning, and the trek began.
Talked to so many new people on the way, did a lot of catching up with Riya and we reached, this time the trek felt a lot easier because it was night don’t you think otherwise people. As soon as we arrived, we took our shoes and socks off and off we went to the sea. I was standing right beside Pooja talking about how we landed up in Gokarna, and I saw the first phytoplankton, the trip, the day, the month, the year, the life, all of it just felt complete, the number of phytoplankton increased. Now there were hundreds of them; I had never seen anything similar, anything so magical in life, smiling wide and looking at each other we just said this is magnetic. I looked at the sky and boom a shooting star. I yelled, did you see it Pooja she was like yes, we both did not give a flying fuck about making a wish, did not I already have everything I wanted right now, is what I thought to myself. I just missed someone dear back home; I missed you, you beautiful lady. Continuing, I hopped on to Snehal, it was midnight 28th Jan had started, wished her Happy Birthday, another tight hug, stars, phytoplankton’s and all us it felt like pure bliss. Snehal is another beautiful soul that has graced planet Earth, all single guys, Nah no chance for you people, be a gentleman first :p
Kishor the Zostel manager, then got the bonfire burning, we sat in a circle, snacks being passed around, and introducing ourselves. All that done, we had a girl from Ukraine with us; she had a different outlook on life; she was adorable. In India for seven years now, she was into performing arts, she read a poem she had written, it was fantastic. No one willing to be the next scapegoat, I decided I’ll read something I had written, and I did, mainly because I want to become a better speaker. It was pleasant. I and Riya, then got a little away from the group and went and sat on the rocks talking about the old times and what’s new and just savoured the starry sky. Surbhi and Snehal also joined, in a conversation Snehal said, Bhavya I love how you flirt for the sake of it and get the girl beside you all cheerful, it just filled my heart with joy. My day was perfect. On our trek back, I met another two chicks; they said something in Marathi, and I was like, Kuthun ahhat tumhi? (Where are you all from?), they replied Pune, and the rest is history. I got more people to laugh and made more good friends. While on the bus ride back home, the Sagittarian man told you, we are lucky bastards, the Ukrainian girl came and sat beside me, this time I did not talk at all, I was enjoying the cold breeze and all her theories that she was sharing. A guy questioned her, how do you define a great party, she said it’s simple if the party does not feel like one crazy comedy theatrical act happening in front of you, it is still not insane enough. Unique outlook I said, I enjoyed listening to all the out of the box thoughts of her. Back home, I got excellent sleep.
The next day we woke up at 8ish. We had a simple plan for today, visit Vibhuti Falls; I was looking for people who would love to join Pooja said yes spontaneously, and then we had two more guys joining, Pat and Swaroop. Another two crazy people I made friends with absolutely fun guys. We started, had breakfast at a French Cafe called Chez Christophe on the central Gokarna Beach, a splendid place, absolutely yummy food, funky interiors, and fabulous hosts. We had booked an Ertiga, as our dhano for the day. We got late enjoying the breakfast, but the driver was polite. He did not say anything, and off we went. Good music, cracking more jokes, making fun of how shitty I was at geography, and randomly guessing signboards we reached. I have started understanding, making people laugh, and laughing myself harder is my favourite pass time. Vibhuti Falls was a small trek away into the woods. The people at Zostel who had already been there had hyped the place so much that my expectations had skyrocketed. And boy, when we reached did the site not live up to it, it is the best waterfall I have yet been to. All of the over-enthusiasm in me made sure all the 6 of us did not stay down. We went to the third level, there was literally no one, and there we got to click thoroughly lovable pictures. We swam in the naturally made pool right there. After 3 hrs in heaven, it was time for us to go back. I again tried convincing the driver to allow me to drive, but I failed. Then enjoying more jokes, making fun of each other, we reached back to the Zostel. We had a bus at 8.20 in the night it was 5.20 already.
Nothing was now on the plan, I was thinking of lazing around, chill there, have a light dinner, bid bye to all the amazing people, and hop on to the bus. Still, Sharad, the other manager at Zostel, had different plans. He said, let’s go for sunset at the Kudle hilltop; next minute, we packed our bags, and we were on the bikes to Kudle Hill Top. It was just 7 minutes from Zostel. Undoubtedly, the best sunset I had seen in the past year, this time we had Riya and her group along with us, we clicked more pictures and just got lost in the beauty of nature.
Then, Kishor joined us and took us to see labyrinths; that was another thing I witnessed for the first time. It is like a maze through which we walk and think about things we want or think about positive stuff. I did that it took around 3 minutes to complete that maze and instantly after getting out of it I felt I had all the answers I wanted in life, there is nowhere I want to go and a hit of immediate gratification. I felt so full and so calm that I hated myself to have booked the bus tickets back home, and Surbhi just murmured, I am going to come back here soon. It was just my heart expressing in Surbhi’s voice. We went back to the Zostel ordered dinner; I was saying bye to all the beautiful adorable souls I met there, got my bags down, till the dinner was getting cooked. The dinner was ready, I was having my first chapati, and we get a call, the bus has been preponed, we had to leave without completing our dinner and without being able to have the last word and say a final bye to the place. I was a bit sad, but yes, it was time to go. The next morning, we were in Pune.
This, was the trip I was longing for, the journey I needed desperately, why if you ask me, I’d answer it had nature all around me throughout, it had me travelling on a bus, a car, a bike, a rickshaw, walking, and trekking. It got beautiful new unique people in my life; one was a lawyer, one working in Canada, another a sports journalist, a cute graduate student in Behavioural Sciences from UPenn, another a marketing head at Amazon who quit her job. I am also getting a referral from a girl I met there in Mindtree. Also, it was her birthday, and she gave us a delightful cake just before we started our journey back home. Proceeding, I met solo travellers and foreigners, it allowed me to spend more time with two cuties who I have been friends with for so long now. It allowed me to enjoy the sea and the sunset entirely by myself and then it got me experiences like phytoplankton’s and labyrinths, Zostel was an experience in itself, it made me write, and it made me draw. To that, I say alright, to that I am thankful. Life is beautiful, and time is precious, travel, travel because it will make you feel complete and go because it’s the easiest way to make the best of memories. You’d not always have the people you want with you, there would be times you want to do something else like I wanted to trek, but take that boat ride and be spontaneous, while you still can be. Life is full of amusing moments if you have the eye for it. Now if you ask me how I want to live, I’d reply walking on a tightrope singing in the lifeboat. I like to live at the edge I love the adrenaline rush I get when I am in fear of losing it all and still end up winning, Gokarna, you beauty, Bhavya Mehta is genuinely grateful for you to be in India, for you to exist. All my fellow humans, I would like to add, please take care of our mother earth, please, for it is what keeps us alive, for it is what makes our miserable lives worth living.
If you want to see more amazing pictures from Gokarna, or have any feedback for me reach out to me on Instagram-@iambhavyamehta
